


20 Things You Never Knew About Jim Ellison

by Rhianne



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gen Fic, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-04
Updated: 2012-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-06 20:17:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianne/pseuds/Rhianne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>20 Things You Never Knew About Jim Ellison.</p><p>Some are gen, some slash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	20 Things You Never Knew About Jim Ellison

1\. When he was a child, Jim used to watch the women who came to school to pick up the other kids. Sometimes, as the well-dressed women hugged their sons, he’d pretend they were his mother. He’d watch them walk away and fantasize that they were going to turn around, smile at him and hold out their arms to offer him a hug in turn. For a few brief, wonderful seconds, it was as if he had a mother again.

2\. Jim remembers every single thing about his time in Peru, even though he tells Sandburg he doesn’t. He hides the memories away; his time with Incacha had been too special and the loss of his team too painful to lay out for the sake of a cold, academic dissertation. Sometimes he feels guilty and decides to tell Sandburg after all, but then he remembers Incacha’s gentle, comforting smile, and stays silent.

3\. The night that Jim killed David Lash, he’d broken a cop’s cardinal rule – he let it get personal. Lash’s strength had been surprising, but Jim knew he could have disarmed him. As Lash came at him with the pipe he could have - should have - shot him in the leg, in the arm, somewhere non-lethal, then handcuffed him and called for backup. At first, he’d been aiming at Lash’s shoulder. But then he remembered Blair’s terrified face as Lash was towering over him, recalled the state of the loft and the proof of just how hard Blair had fought for his life. Then he adjusted his aim, and squeezed the trigger. 

4\. On quiet weekends, when Cascade’s villains need a break as much as Jim does, and Blair’s university work is all caught up, the two of them often end up in the local park. When the sun is shining and they both need time to just be, one or other of them always suggests the trip. Sometimes they take a Frisbie or a ball; sometimes they walk for hours, talking about everything and nothing. Occasionally Blair takes a book, Jim packs up some food and they just sit, Blair’s deep voice mixing with the rustling of the trees as he reads aloud. It’s never planned, but Jim treasures every single second.

5\. No-one realizes just how deeply hurt Jim was when his brother turned on him back when they were teenagers. He’d covered his emotions with bluster and fury, but when he was alone, when there was no need to keep up a façade, all Jim felt was an all-pervading sadness and confusion. Over the years that mutated into a bitter hatred that Jim couldn’t resolve no matter how hard he tried. When Stephen begged for his help after the murder at the racetrack, no-one knows how close Jim came to walking away and leaving him to his fate.

6\. Jim’s extraordinary senses enchant him. The things he is capable of are wondrous, fascinating, and though he keeps up the pretense of annoyance he secretly enjoys the new things that he discovers when indulging Sandburg with his tests. Even though at times his senses drive him wild and he lashes out in frustration; hating the feeling of often being out of control, his senses brought him Blair, and for that they’ll always be welcome.

7\. Jim loves to read books about other countries. With the exception of that one, ill-fated trip to Bali, Jim has never been out of America on vacation. He’s traveled the world on covert ops trips, but all he saw of foreign lands was death and destruction. Sometimes, he wants to be reminded that there is beauty in the world as well as suffering. 

8\. Jim was sympathetic to Sandburg while he mourned Maya’s loss the second time, but privately he was glad that she had been deported for good. Jim had taken an instant dislike to Maya the moment he saw her and Sandburg kissing on campus; a dislike that he tells himself was purely because of who she was and what she’d done, and nothing to do with the fact that Blair loved her.

9\. Jim was never interested in Naomi.

10\. In those horrifying moments at the fountain when it looked like Blair was dead, Jim felt terror, shame, grief and a million other emotions he couldn’t even begin to identify. But he’ll never admit to anyone that stronger than them all had been a debilitating fury that Blair might ever leave him.

11\. Jim’s best friend at school was a boy named Sean. When they were seven, they would play at being Superman. Sean would wish he could be Superman so that he could have special powers. Jim would wish he was Clark Kent, because Clark had parents who loved him without hesitation. Sean grew up to be a loving parent to three wonderful children, and now Jim is still playing at being a hero.

12\. Unknown to William Ellison, when Jim got out of the army the first thing he did was track down his mother. She now lives in Canada; remarried with two daughters, one of whom has children of her own. Jim has met them all, and is honorary godfather to his youngest niece, Alicia. He doesn’t get the chance to visit them often, but it’s a comfort to know they are there. One day, when the time is right, he wants to introduce them to Blair.

13\. Jim has always wanted a dog. His father never allowed animals in the house because of the mess, but Jim promised himself that when he grew up and had a place of his own he’d get a Labrador, or maybe an Irish Setter. As the years passed he always found reasons to put it off; Carolyn, his job, living on the third floor. Now it’s Sandburg’s hair he finds all over the loft, and Jim can’t bring himself to mind.

14\. Jim loves his job. The long hours can be hard, and it’s frustrating when his senses reveal truths that he can’t prove to the DA, but deep down he can’t ever imagine wanting to do anything else. It’s a buzz; an adrenaline rush each and every time he solves a case and catches a killer, an arsonist or a thief. Each success is one less bad guy on the streets of his city, one less terror to haunt the people of Cascade. Sandburg calls it a territorial impulse driven by Jim’s sentinel abilities, but Jim knows better. A strong sense of right and wrong and a need to help those less fortunate is the only good thing his father ever gave him.

15\. When Jim came back from Peru, his father sent him a case of incredibly expensive, 80-year-old wine, as well as a box of Cuban cigars. His immediate impulse had been to throw them away, but good wine was good wine, and they’ve been gathering dust in storage ever since. A year after Sandburg moves in, Jim decides to keep them until they can celebrate his graduation. Somehow it seems appropriate to toast his new family with the remnants of the old.

16\. When times are hard and his senses turn the waking world into a nightmare, Jim fantasizes about running away. Going to Thailand, or Italy, or any one of a thousand places that aren’t Cascade. He spends sleepless nights thinking of the places he will see and the people he’ll meet. The following morning he climbs wearily out of bed and realizes that an equally exhausted Sandburg has spent that same night researching, trying to work out how he can make things better, and Jim knows that he’ll never, ever leave.

17\. Before he was killed, Karl Heydash used to drive a pickup truck to sports practice. Each time Jim starts the engine of his 1969 pickup, he always spares a fond smile for the man who’d taken care of him in his father’s place.

18\. Often, when Jim goes to Rainier to meet Blair for lunch, he’ll intentionally get there half an hour early. He’ll lean against the wall outside the lecture theater, close his eyes, and just listen to Blair’s voice echoing from the next room.

19\. Jim likes nothing better than take-out before kicking back on the sofa and watching the Superbowl. Sandburg sits beside him, cross-legged and leaning forward intently, his gaze fixed on the TV. One year, when the time is right, Jim will reach over and put his arm round Blair, pulling the younger man to him in a simple, warm embrace that will say everything a thousand words could not.

20\. Jim was never interested in Naomi. He was too busy falling in love with her son.


End file.
